the president is playing preevent defense but people like charles krauthammer are frustrated because they don't see a reaction to being behind in some sort of change. be angry. be a fighter. go big. whatever it is. they have to do something different i think in the expectation of the conservative press or people are going to start turning on them. >> yeah. joe, the debates, is that one area where he actually might do well? >> i think he'll do well in the debates. he is a very good debater. the president's own people will say, and they're not spinning, that the president's not that great in debates. he lost the majority of the debates to hillary clinton back in 2008. he is not good at boiling things down to sound bites and delivering a punch line. but sam stein, there is, though, a real concern among conservatives. you know, two weeks ago when i started, the huffington post picked up my comments. >> as always. >> early on. at that point i said oh, my god it's getting late. >> yeah. >> it's getting late. then "the wall street journal", peggy noonan and others followed but here we are t